Syrian Kurds say giving targets for U.S. strikes near Kobani

MURSITPINAR Turkey/BEIRUT (Reuters) - The United States and its allies have dramatically stepped up air strikes in the past two days near the Syrian town of Kobani, where Kurdish defenders said they had given the Americans target coordinates to try to halt an Islamic State assault.

The U.S.-led military coalition said it had bombed Islamic State targets in and around Kobani nearly 40 times in the space of 48 hours, around triple the pace of last week.